Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim came to Finas in Hulu Kelang on May 4, with his two deputy ministers armed with little notebooks, to meet a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representing the entertainment industry.

There was a huge photo of him overlooking all from the back of the stage, staring at everybody in front. It is an insignificant gesture, by any standards. How could he be allowed to morph from one ministry to another and another is beyond my understanding.

He was ten minutes late so the function, which was meant to be a town-hall style meeting, ended up with him making a lengthy 50-minute speech which touched on a host of things.

There was also no ‘kompang' and ‘bunga manggar' to accompany him as he stepped out of his car to the stage. Everybody stood up when he entered the soundstage where the function was held. But I refused to join everybody.

I only stand up for Malay rulers and the prime minister and his deputy, but not for the ministers.

One of the things Rais said, and only in passing, was that the 52nd Merdeka Day celebrations this August would be downsized considering that it will occur on the tenth day of Ramadan.

Unfortunately, the media seized this piece of revelation and highlighted it, and in the process ignored what was discussed by the NGOs.

Therefore, the ministry wasted thousands of ringgit to organise the function at Finas, putting Finas at almost a standstill, but ended up getting such a small coverage in the media only for something which will happen three months from now and which is not related to the film and entertainment industry.

As a veteran, Rais should have known better not to ‘mix' this Finas function with his other concerns. And he should also not have spoken for 50 minutes while not allowing as much time for the many leaders of the NGOs to voice their views on the state of the industry.

I dare say that of late, Malaysian television and cinema have been hijacked by the advertisers. These mediums have become a vehicle to push their products and services more than to promote goodwill and greater understanding.

Worse, television and cinema have been destroyed by the ministry's incompetence. All these years, they had not thought of sending anyone abroad to do specialised degrees on film management and television so we could become world-renowned experts in the fields.

The tourism industry as well as other industries could benefit a great deal if the entertainment industry in Malaysia is fully-developed and there will be no need for them to spend hundreds of millions to promote the country and the products and services.

But this did not happen. It will not happen as long as the minister and the government are too blinkered in their views of the entertainment industry, not knowing how powerful it is towards enhancing what is good for the country and its people.

They still think those who are in the film industry are like those of an earlier time, who were either social or school dropouts. But many nowadays enter the film industry out of personal choice and conviction, with some having proper degrees in it at the graduate and also post-graduate level.

The information ministers can only change the slots for the news programmes, so each new minister uses this to create an instant impact on the media and public; to show they are a force to be reckoned with.

But they are not. They can never be. Because they are not qualified to know what's good for the country and ‘rakyat'.

You can bet your bottom ringgit if another person takes over from Rais as the minister of this ministry, he will immediately change the slot for prime-time news as soon as he enters his office on the ninth floor at Angkasapuri.

Unfortunately, and ironically, too, the West has been using television to their greatest advantage to promote their propaganda without us realising it. So when did this start -- When advertisers became more important to Malaysian cinema and television than the country itself?

This is really a bad start to encourage the growth of the creative industry in the country, for it will act more like an extension of that in America or elsewhere including India and Hong Kong. The Malaysian identity will be further eroded because we do not and are not willing to impose our own values and standards but accept those that were created elsewhere.

No wonder there is this passion or eagerness for our artistes to try and get recognition from festivals held abroad, which is a shame, because we are good and great enough to be able to offer our own recognition to our own talents.

I am writing this after noticing how almost all the television stations are having entertainment reality programmes - at the same time! There is no variety left in the programme, other than the news programmes, which break the monotony at different parts of the day.

Something ought to be done fast before the situation becomes worse than it is already before Malaysian television is nothing but reality TV from morning till midnight.

And Malaysian cinema is no better with the films produced by the new crop of young directors who lack any cinematic vision or who are not responsive to the needs of the country. They only come up with films that have some gimmicks, and not real cinema. Their qualification is suspect and their world view restricted to what they see around them.

It's the same with the ministers and officials of the respective ministries who also have similar perspective as these 'film directors'.